Leather and the Lab Coat
by Joy1
Summary: Logan and Max get closer dispite a former lovers advances to help his legs and a few other places.
1. Bobby

Title: Leather and the Lab coat

Name: Joy 

Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com

Rating: R 

Max and Logan reviewed a list of names of possible doctors in Tokyo that could be the doctor Dr. Vertes referred to before her death as being familiar with research. Their argument impaired the sound of someone entering the penthouse. "Logan…" as female voice called from the doorway. Logan rolled to see if his suspicions were correct as to whom the owner of the syrupy voice belonged. 

Before him stood the vision he had expected but hadn't wanted- 5' 6, size 5, strawberry blonde. The straight long hair emerged from the cap she wore as it was tossed to the side. "I heard you needed some spice in your life," the woman spoke, shifting her hips in the tight leather pants she wore. She threw her leather jacket to the side and it landed on a near by chair. Her top left nothing to the imagination, more a leather bustier then anything else. In a few swift steps she had managed to straddle Logan's lap. His mouth hung open as she said, "I've come to help in that department… and a few others." With that, one of her hands found its way to behind his head pulling him close and kissing him hard, while the other wound down his chest and caressed between his legs. 

His shock gave way to a low groan. Max came looking around the corner as the woman had attacked Logan's mouth. Suddenly he pushed her way. "At least we know it still works!" the red head said. He shot her an annoyed look before noticing Max's presence. "I guess I was misinformed about the spice." She stood and walked towards Max circling her a few times. "Nice job, Cale. You found a better version- She's stronger… smaller in some places and bigger in others." 

"Hey! Don't talk about Max- _one_ like she's not standing in front of you and _two_ as if she were a piece of meat. Do it again and the open invite you have will be rescinded! Got it?" Logan shouted. Max's glare flew to his angered face. He had just come to her defense in an unusual way. 

"I'm sorry. Not into the 'flavor of the week' option to life anymore. I'm on board… I'll deposit my stuff in the guestroom. I'll even change," The strange intruder grabbed her bag and headed to her quarters for her stay. 

Max finally spoke, "Who… or…What the hell was that?"

"That is Dylan."

"Again I say, 'What the hell was that'?"

"I don't feel like getting into it…"

Max leaned down to look Logan in the face. "Old girlfriend… Why didn't you let her play?" Max asked trying to keep up the appearance that it didn't bother her that another woman had kissed him. 

He whispered gently, "Because of this." He looked into her eyes, then kissed her lips for a moment. "I have no interest in sleeping with her when kissing you is so much more exciting." Max just stared at him a moment, unable to think of anything to say. Logan seemed content to let it stand there for the moment. "I'm sorry for the way she spoke to you… about you," he said changing the subject.

Max gave him a quizzical look. "It's fine. I've heard worse."

"Yeah, but not in my house. Never in my house," he said with determination. 

"Piece of advise, Logan- any time you think to associate me with the words 'genetically enhanced,' remember that's worse then treating me like a piece of meat."

He sat in silence as Dylan arrived in the computer room. She had her hair tied back in a ponytail, wore a T-shirt and jeans, and carried a small bag. "Sorry about before- I just needed to make sure the fire of hell could still be roused in this man's soul, otherwise there's really no point in my visit then to be a pain in the ass," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked her.

She produced a small machine with electrodes attached to it. "Guess who called me?"

"Bling…" Max piped up.

"No… Bling wasn't part of our little group of over taught kids. Sebastian called you," Logan said after a minute. 

"Bingo! So let's move to wherever you do you're exercises."

"You're a doctor?" Max asked as they moved.

"Yes and No. I am but mainly I create devises to help people with disabilities function better. I created the devises Sebastian uses to communicate. Logan worked with the software to get it to function at its best… One of our best collaborations," she said looking at him wistfully. 

"Bobby, what's the box?" Logan asked.

"Why did you call her that? I thought your name was Dylan?"

"My name is Dylan. My father named me after Bob Dylan, the sixties folksinger. So Bobby is a nickname, very few people are allowed the privilege… The box, junior," she said, sticking her tongue out at Logan, and then snapping it back, "Will hopefully help you walk again. Now lets see those sexy legs."

"Please stop. I have enough trouble dealing when its just one of you lording over me; but since you're both here, I'm begging you each to be on your best behavior." Dylan & Max just looked at each and laughed. Logan pulled up his pants legs to the knees. 

"This is just a test," she said, applying the last electrode to his skin. "Eventually, I'll need to see all your charts and such, OK?" Dylan said, flicking a switch on the box. 

"Agh… That hurt," Logan yelped. "Wait that's a good thing!"

"Logan, close your eyes. Max, touch his leg. Lets see if he can tell us where you're touching." Logan shut his eyes as Max decided to push one finger into the bundle of muscle behind his left leg. 

He squinted and said, "I feel some sort of pressure on my left leg, I think."

"OK, keep you eyes shut and we'll do it again." This time both Dylan and Max pushed on a section of muscle on each leg. 

"I know this can't be right, but it feels like there is pressure on both legs," he said with a wrinkled brow. 

"Good. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I think I have a short term and potentially a long-term solution to your paralysis…" she said removing the electrodes from his skin. Logan grabbed Max's hand in excitement and fear. "I'm going to need to review your medical files."

"That's fine. They're in the computer room," Logan said getting into his chair. "You'll probably need to speak to my PT too. He'll be by tomorrow morning." 

"It can wait until morning… though, I need to work off some energy… I was hoping to get laid, but, oh well," she said strutting over to the guestroom. "See ya in the morning."

Max looked at Logan in disbelief, "You dated her?"

"Sort of…" 

"What does 'sort of' mean?"

Dylan reemerged from her room having changed back into her leather garb, "I promise to get enough sleep tonight to be ready to work tomorrow. See ya!" She glided out the door with the same hip sway she walked in with. 

"As you can see Dylan has two modes- Inventor and Sexpot. I call her Leather and the Lab coat. Lets just say trying to manage both sides was… difficult."

Max got a wicked smile on her face, "Which side did you… manage first?"

"You're not going to let this die are you?"

"Nope!"

"I was a one night stand that didn't let her go. She liked having me around because she felt I fulfilled both sides of her appetites pretty well. We did a six-month stint and then she took off in the middle of the night… She returned two months later to apologize via my computer. After that we've been just business associates. This isn't her first attempt to get me back in her bed. She calls me 'the one that got away,' to which I then remind her it was she who took off. Is that enough of an explanation?" Logan asked simply. 

"Sorry… But it sounds like she thinks she can help." 

"I don't doubt it. She has your type of smarts when it comes to human body," he said looking at his legs.

With a wicked grin she said, "So does that mean I'm good with the human body as well?" 

Logan met her gaze for a moment before swallowing. "I'd say so. At least mine." He raised his eyebrow in challenge. 

"What can I do for your body?" she asked seductively, wondering how long the games would continue.

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of a few things," he teased back. 

"Now, are you all hot and bothered because she sat on your lap or because I'm here?" Max asked to clarify.

Logan grabbed at Max's waist and pulled him into his lap, "Believe me, any reaction toward Dylan was purely reflex."

"So I'm the cause of that hard lump in your pants?" she purred and looked him in the eye. The games were moving along quickly, past where she thought they would.

"Oh, yeah," he groaned before kissing her. After a few minutes of making out in his chair Logan stopped abruptly. "I'm sorry. As much as I want this, I want you to stay with me. I can't handle you leaving me in the middle of the night."

Max's eyes shone with disappointment but understanding as well. "I'll be back in the morning to see how Dr. Dylan thinks this will all work."

She kissed him lightly before getting up. As she left, Logan surveyed his apartment and considered the new possibilities in his path. 

********************

__

It will be a while before I do the next chapter on this story… I will not hurry. I have a few other stories to finish first.


	2. Function

Title: Leather and the Lab coat 2

Title: Leather and the Lab coat 2

Name: Joy 

Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com

Rating: R 

Dylan was seated on Logan's kitchen counter in a gray tank top and boxers when he rolled in for breakfast the morning after she arrived. "Good morning sunshine. How do you do today?" she said with enthusiasm.

"God! I forgot how perky you are in the morning. And that expression everyday-Flashback!" Logan responded. Not being a morning person, he hated being around a chipper morning person. 

"Well, I see we've never gotten over our morning crabbiness. Why do you insist on getting up if you don't like the morning and you don't have somewhere to be?"

"I do have somewhere to be- my desk with the computer on it," he said, as they glared at each other for a minute as Logan began to dig into his cereal. 

Dylan cleared her throat and tried to begin the morning again, "She's nice… Beautiful too. By the way you grabbed her hand, looks like you've been working on the sharing thing."

Logan paused to think about what she just said, "Some what… I'm getting better at it. Plus, Max has been around for a lot of the really hard stuff the last several months… She's really good at talking me down off my ledges."

"I'm glad," Dylan said with a halfhearted smile.

"You were really hoping, weren't you?" 

"Kind of… I received an offer of an unusual position. If I take it, I know I won't be coming back. I'm trying to talk myself out of it. I figured I could if I made amends for the past."

"Dylan," Logan said with a sigh, "I know you feel awful about the way you left and you have been wondering 'what if' ever since, but I'm mostly happy with my life right now. I wish you can find the same thing."

"Yeah," she said looking down. She put her bowl in the sink and hopped off the counter. "I'll go change and we'll get started."

*********************************************************************

Logan was seated on the exercise table with small electrodes placed all over his legs. "OK Logan… I'm gonna crank up the box and you are going to try to move your toes."

"You gotta be kidding me."

With a flick of the switch the electrical stimulant coursed through the box and into Logan's legs. He grimaced a minute then relaxed. His leg muscles contracted sporadically of their own accord, while Dylan watched with glee. "Will they stop that?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. They just have to get used to having electrical impulses being present again."

"What are you doing to me, by the way?"

"Training your body to work around the lesion."

"What?"

"Basically, the plan is to create a box small enough to put in your back that will send the electrical signals you need to move your legs. Let me worry about the specifics, and you concentrate on your toes," Dylan said simply.

Logan stared at his toes for a few minutes. He wrinkled his brow saying, "This isn't working."

"Try this… Close your eyes and relax. Think about wiggling your toes the way you did as a kid."

Logan sighed, then closed his eyes. When his breathing became regular, Dylan made a minor adjustment to the box, and suddenly he was moving his toes. "Hah… Wait, I'm doing it," Logan said excitedly. As soon as he looked at his toes, they stopped moving. "Hey, what happened?"

Dylan cocked her head to one side. She took his feet in her hands and tickled a very sensitive spot that Logan would automatically jerk if he felt it. Sure enough his foot jerked to the side. Her face grew more quizzical. She got her notebook out and jotted down his responses. 

In total doctor mode, Dylan asked, "What effect has the shooting had on your sexual function?"

"Dylan, if this isn't for…" Her gaze snapped to him in contempt. "Lab coat- right… I don't know."

She wrinkled her brow, "You and Max aren't…"

Logan's face became flushed, "Don't get any ideas… We're close…just not there!"

Max arrived at this point in the conversation, choosing not to let her presence be known due to the sensitive nature of the material. Dylan spoke next saying, "OK. Suck it up. I'm your doctor… Hey if it makes you feel any better, I have to deal with the fact my patient has seen me naked."

"Your method of comfort is not helping!"

"Fine! You haven't had sexual relations since the shooting… but we know you can get it up from contact. What about just thoughts… no direct contact?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. So when you say you don't know, you mean you don't know about the ejaculation part?" she asked.

Logan turned every shade of red imaginable while Max just watched unseen. She knew she shouldn't be listening to the intimate details of Logan's recovery but after the previous night she felt like she had some claim. "…I…I haven't tried," Logan fumbled as Dylan took notes. "I don't see what any of this has to do with my legs!" he said in frustration, knowing very well the two were related. 

"My research to make this little box is based on sexual function… Think about it. Sixty to eighty percent of men with SCI can still perform sexually and have some feeling in what should be a totally paralyzed area. There is obviously something that allows the body to work around the legion. My task is to try to figure out how to do that in your legs," she said

"Problem is, I'll be asking you lots of embarrassing questions and possibly asking you to 'try' to have an orgasm, so I can monitor it… I said nothing about with me, OK. I'm not that desperate… We would just do this as comfortably as possible for you. I would need to have a few monitors on to gage blood flow and automatic reactions," Dylan finished as Logan shifted uncomfortably on the table. He wanted to walk but at what cost. Dylan would not torture him in this way unless she thought it was necessary. 

"I don't quite understand what you would be asking me to do here? That is a pretty generic description. Are you asking me to… stimulate… myself? Did you… did you think I would… OK I can't do this. My relationship with Max is at tentative point, and if you were even remotely suggesting I use her to get off for this experiment, I will have none of it. She isn't a flavor of the week or a piece of meat," Logan stated emphatically.

Max was touched. Logan wouldn't even consider putting his legs before her. She was more important to him than she thought. "Logan, I wasn't suggesting you do anything you weren't comfortable with. I actually thought you would ask Max to do this with you as a trust thing… I know how much you hate to appear weak or in need in front of anyone. It would be a pretty good way to start out a sexual relationship on the right foot. It would be an exercise in communication, big time."

"OK. No offense, but in none of my fantasies of sleeping with Max are there monitors involved," Logan snapped.

"Fine- but have you thought about the awkwardness of not communicating about what or what might not happen in that bedroom. Wouldn't you want to talk about that with her before hand?"

"Yes. But once again, not with monitors!"

"OK. Sorry. We will venture off this topic…" Dylan said a Logan huffed from his chair. "Are you close to…" Logan glared at her big time. "Sorry, not enough time has passed."

"Dylan! This is my life we are talking about. Not the experiment. I don't want to feel like my relationship with Max was rushed because of this."

"Then I think we need to discuss other options…"

"Later, I need a break," he said. 

At that moment, Max pretended to just enter the apartment. She thought the way Logan had been behaving was so sweet; she wanted nothing more to help in any way she could. Anyway- she hoped would involve finishing what they started the night before. 

"Hey, there. How's it going Dr. Dylan?" Max asked.

"OK. We're about to take a break. Hit a few roadblocks, but over all the treatment looks promising. I'll go over the medical files you have," Dylan said leaving the room.

"How's the bionic man?" Max asked as she helped Logan remove the electrodes from his legs. 

"Frustrated. This is going to involve some unforeseen complications," he said sliding into his chair. 

"Well, I was just coming by to say good morning and snag a kiss before I have to head to work," she said with a smile.

"Oh, do I like this new arrangement!" Logan said with enthusiasm. She leaned down and kissed Logan a little. She soon was sitting in his lap, kissing him like she was never going to see him again. He kept his eyes shut as they parted lips, "WOW. Come over to kiss me more often!"

"You liked that, huh?"

"Who wouldn't? A beautiful, intelligent, amazing woman decides to drop by in the morning to get my pulse racing. I think I'm a lucky man."

"So tell me something? How long you gonna make me wait?" she said biting his lower lip. 

"Max. You're killing me," he groaned. "I'm gonna make you wait until you can assure me you'll be here in the morning."

"Fair enough… I don't think that will take long… I mean, I've stayed here despite Lydecker on the rampage."  
"NO… I'm talking about not freaking out that you let me that close and scurrying from the apartment in the middle of the night," he said as he intertwined their fingers. 

"OK," she said with a pout. "I gotta go to work. We'll talk about Dr. Dylan when I get home… I mean, get off… I mean, get back… here… from work," Max said greatly flustered. 

"You're really cute with your foot in your mouth," Logan said with a smile. She kissed him lightly before she departed through the door. 

"All right Dylan, give me the other possible game plans. I'll suck it up and deal with the embarrassment factor later. Max is out of this equation at the present time," Logan said rolling into the computer room, where she was seated reading his files.

She looked up from the words written very concerned, "Logan, the only way I am doing this is if you get therapy."

"Excuse me?!"

"How close did you come?"

"I don't have a clue what you are talking about."

"Don't play me like I am fresh off the bus here. I know you. You don't do things half way… If you were as despondent as your last doctor thought, I want to know how close you came to offing yourself?"

"I don't want to get into that Dylan."

"Why? Because you know me and that would make you vulnerable? Guess what- You don't get a choice. I am your best shot of walking again but I need to know that if something goes wrong, you aren't going to blow your head off. Now, how close were you?" she said as she stared him down.

"I had the gun out," he said looking down.

"What made you stop?"

"Water from my upstairs neighbor's apartment dripped on my face. I went up to check on her. She had fallen and hit her head… She said I was young and had everything to live for… When I came back to my apartment, Max was here worried about me. It was the first moment I thought about what it would have done to her. Hurting her isn't an option, ever."

"Is that supposed to be my assurance that it won't happen again?"

"Yes and no… I'll talk to someone if you want me to. I was seeing someone right after the shooting who was 'helping me adjust,' like there is such a thing. I can go back… Is that better?"

"Much… Go be Eyes Only. I'm going to do a little reading with this report and see if I can figure out where she was headed."

"Yes ma'am."


	3. Drunk

Title: Leather and the Lab coat 3

Title: Leather and the Lab coat 3

Name: Joy 

Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com

Rating: R 

Logan was seated at his computer for a few hours when he paused to feel the sunlight on his face. Life was pretty good as it turned out. He had made an appointment to see the therapist that he had seen after the accident initially. Max was coming over after work, he thought with a smile. He also was blessed with friends, who were working diligently to figure out how to get him walking again. 

His reverie was disturbed by the shadow of Dylan entering his computer room. "Ya want a drink?" she asked gravely.

"Sure," Logan responded, knowing it was far better to drink with Dylan than let her drink alone. "What's up?"

"Did I tell you about that new position I was offered that I'm debating taking?"

"Yeah. You also vaguely mentioned you wouldn't be coming back. I was going to try to talk you out of anything that required that level of commitment, but I thought I would wait until we trusted each other more again," he said studying her face.

"Well, all I can do is trust you at this point!" she said downing a shot of vodka. 

There was a long pause where Logan prepared for whatever his firebrand would throw at him. The firebrand wasn't throwing anything except drink after drink down her throat. It was as if she were trying to sanitize herself internally with the alcohol as antiseptic rather then it as a drink. 

Logan took the bottle away from her gently before she drank herself silly. "What's going on Bobby? You only drink like this when you hurt really badly. I'm guessing this has something to do with your dad."

At those words, Dylan laughed hysterically, "God, I'm so predictable that an ex from over a year ago can read me!"

"I'm more than an ex. We lived together for six months… Day in Day out. I know you pretty well. Now, what's up on the dad front that is hurting so bad," he said lightly putting his hand on top of hers.

"The position I was offered was to 'fix' some of my father's mistakes," she stated leaning her head on his hand. "There was a period of time where dad worked at this government project that we weren't allowed to ask about. The people from that project have contacted me about working for them… I was so curious to see what my dad had been working on that I went for a minor interview, reviewing what I might work on. I was disgusted, but I didn't show it. I saw enough to know my father didn't die of a heart attack. These people killed him to keep the information base under wraps. If I go in, I wouldn't be coming out."

Logan stared at her as she spoke. "I could fix things. I could learn things. I could re-lay confidential information to an amazing crusader and hopefully expose it…"

"Dylan, I'm very confused. I don't understand. You and I were working on my legs. Why did things change? Why are you so concerned with this position?" Logan asked.

"Because I have no other choice!" she said defiantly.

Logan began to think the alcohol had just gotten to her, "Bobby, go take a nap and we'll talk about this later."

"No! We have to talk about it now! There is no future to speak of."

"Why not?!"

"Because my predecessor working with your legs, discovered the same thing as me: Stem cells in your blood, large amounts of them. There is only one population with enough stem cells in their blood to have given you a transfusion and survive- and I'm not talking about a series of unborn children," she demanded.

Logan searched Dylan's eyes for some sort of peace. There was none to be found. "I kept wondering about the tie you two have. It just didn't make sense until now. You really did find a better model Logan," she said in her drunken depression. 

"Dylan," he said touching her face, "I'm sorry this hurts you so… but I'm begging you not to destroy her."

Dylan grabbed the bottle of alcohol from Logan's hand and downed a ton in huge gulps. "That is the worst part… I don't want to. I want you to be happy… I want to help find a way to make her as healthy as she can be, for you… That is what they want from me, to perfect the defects my father failed at. I would be responsible for once again trying to create a commanding officer. The last group was too independent."

Logan gathered the pain his friend was in. She was right about having few options. She was not the sort to be able to play nice with others and pretend like nothing happened. If she went in like she proposed, she would not make it out. If she went in though, she could help Max and the other X-5's tremendously. She could potentially create another out break of independence. She could expose Manticore pretty thoroughly. 

"Bobby, go lie down. We will talk about this when you are less inebriated. We will find away to work it out," he said.

She scurried to the guest bedroom door. "I love you Logan… I thought you should know."

"I know Bobby. I love you too… We'll work it out."

*********************

Max arrived at Logan's to find him poring over his computer files on Dylan's father. His face was grimaced as he concentrated on the words before him. 

"What's up Logan? I thought this was going to be a fun day when I got home… here."

He pulled her into his lap and held her tight. "I need you to do me a favor… I want you to look at this picture and tell me if you recognize anyone in it." Logan handed Max a framed picture of several scientist and doctors in lab coats. She gazed at the picture for only a moment as she realized she was looking at a photo of the doctors on the Manticore project. She dropped the frame and began to see flashbacks.

She pictured herself on a table strapped down as a variety of painful and torturous experiments were run on her. She remembered the eyes of the people in the lab coats. The flashes became more intense. Logan held her close having the answer to his question. 

Dylan's dad respected Logan greatly and knew he was a journalist. Before his death, he had given Logan access to all of his research information for safekeeping. Logan assumed that the old doctor just died and kept it for Dylan so that when she was ready it would be there. Now, Logan was faced with the prospect of having a gold mine in Manticore technology in his hands. 

Logan kissed Max's head a few times and tried to bring her back to his world. She opened her eyes widely with questions in them. "Dylan's dad worked for Manticore. They have approached Dylan about working on a new officer group to replace her dad. She put it all together when she saw my blood work. I have a ton of her dad's research information in storage. He must have suspected that he was going to be killed. Between the three of us, I imagine we can figure out how to correct your seizures and such."

"What about your legs?" she asked timidly.

"Not as important."

"Like hell it isn't! You were suicidal over the prospect of being in that chair forever!" Max snapped.

Logan looked shamed face over the truth of her statement. "I know, but your health comes first."

"We can work on both, alright!" Dylan said from the guestroom door.

"I'm sorry if we woke you," Logan said to his hazy faced friend.

"Not an issue… So you dug through some of Dad's stuff, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's hit it. A lot to cover before those bastards will want an answer," Dylan said rolling her shoulders.

"You aren't actually going to become Dr. Mangala, are you?" Max said defiantly.

"No, I'm going to go in… do what I can to stop them… feed as much info to Logan as I can… and then wait to be killed… hopefully, not taking anyone with me," Dylan responded, stone face with absolute resolve.


End file.
